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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spell — letters
  6. bear — the animal
  7. content — the amount
  8. capital — money
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. current — electric
  11. bear — the animal
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. lean — to bend
  15. capital — a city
  16. current — of water
  17. prune — to trim
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. content — happy
  20. spell — magic
  21. lean — thin
  22. current — happening now
  23. spell — a short time
  24. prune — the fruit

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com